Pinpoint

How to spell pinpoint

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pinpoint

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pinpoint mean?

1. verbTo locate or identify something with great precision.
2. adjectiveExtremely precise or exact.

Pinpoint in a sentence

• verb

  The engineers could not pinpoint the source of the leak.

• adjective

  The surgeon worked with pinpoint accuracy.

• verb

  Detailed records helped them pinpoint the moment the error began.

• adjective

  The forecast gave a pinpoint estimate of the rainfall.

Where does pinpoint come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from two old native words, 'pin' and 'point', both of which trace back through Middle English to Germanic and ultimately Latin-flavoured roots; 'pin' goes back to Old English 'pinn' for a peg or bolt, while 'point' came in through Old French from the Latin 'punctum', meaning 'a prick' or 'a small hole made by pricking'. The literal sense, the tiny point at the tip of a pin, appeared in the 1800s and naturally suggested something extremely small and precise. From that came the adjective use meaning 'as exact as the head of a pin', as in pinpoint accuracy. The verb meaning 'to locate something with great precision' grew popular in the twentieth century, reinforced by wartime aerial navigation and bombing, where crews had to fix a target's position exactly. Because both halves are common everyday words, the spelling holds no real surprises beyond remembering it is written as a single solid word.

How the word is built

• pin (a small metal fastener)
• point (a sharp tip or exact location)